Superior National Forest wolf population trajectory

When the wolf was listed as endangered, the last remaining mainland wolf population in the lower 48 states was in the Superior National Forest (SNF) of northeastern Minnesota. Since then, using radiocollaring and aerial tracking, we have studied the wolf population trend, factors influencing it, and prey species, white-tailed deer, moose, and beavers, affected by wolves.  During winter 2018-2019, we initiated a non-invasive winter wolf survey to determine if we could count resident wolves with reasonable precision using camera traps, genetics from scat and snow tracks, snow tracking, and citizen- scientist reports. During 2019, we commenced noninvasive summer research, along with international cooperators, studying wolf howling rates at their homesites compared across gradients of human impacts on landscapes. To interpret our wild howling results, we tested the efficacy of the recording device on captive wolves during spring 2019. Knowledge of changes in in this natural, protected wolf population provides insight valuable to State and Federal resource managers charged with managing recovered and recovering wolf populations.